1. 1The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University
SUMMER 2013THE EYE ON BDI
INNOVATION AWARD SIMS AWARD
BDI UNDERGRADUATES
Congratulations to Professor Richard O'Kennedy, Dr. Stephen Hearty
and Dr. Barry McDonnell on receiving the inaugural DCU President's
Fujitsu Innovation Award in June. This award is significant in that it
celebrates the translation of research from BDI laboratories into an
Irish hospital.
The project team collaborated with BDI industry partner, Biosurfit, on
the engineering of an antibody to C-reactive protein (CRP), ), which
was designed specifically for integration with the Biosurfit spinit®
detection platform. The focus of this Point-of-Care test is the early
detection of bacterial versus viral infection, which allows clinicians to
quickly and efficiently direct patient therapy.
The spinit® CRP test was CE-certified in 2012, and will shortly
undergo evaluation at the Coombe Women's Hospital, Dublin,
specifically for the early detection of sepsis in the mother and baby.
CAKE CLUB
This month’s cake club saw record numbers attending to taste Niamh
Gilmartin’s delicious raw chocolate hazelnut cheescake. Further
information to follow about the next cake club.
The SIMS project, led by Prof. Tony Killard was awarded the prize for
best publicly funded project at the organic and printed electronics
conference, LOPE-C 2013, in Munich in June 2013.
The project team have developed a revolutionary diagnostic device
for measuring cholesterol by integrating a printed biosensor with a
display and battery onto a flexible plastic substrate. The concept was
demonstrated with a prototype at the conference.
The SIMS prototype effectively demonstrates execution of an
analytical sensor measurement in a new type of diagnostic device
using a fully integrated printed sensor, powered by an on-board
printed battery. The measurement performed by the biosensor is read
out by a printed electrochromic display element that is also on-board
the device. It demonstrates levels of component integration beyond
any other current technology.
The project is funded by the European Community's Seventh
Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] ICT funding scheme under
grant agreement no. 257372.
The BDI are delighted to be hosting eight undergraduate interns on
a summer undergraduate research programme. This programme
incorporates a laboratory research internship with an education and
social experience. The students hail from both Ireland and the USA
and are working on a variety of projects, ranging from platelet assay
development to ergonomic medical device design.
In addition to their individual research projects at BDI, students
participate in educational workshops on entrepreneurship and
science communication. They also have had the opportunity to learn
more about the history Dublin on a visit to the Little Museum of
Dublin in the City Centre!
We wish them the best of luck in their internships and future careers.
Many thanks to all the BDI PIs and mentors that are supporting the
students this summer.
Prof. Richard O'Kennedy receiving the award from DCU President Prof.
Brian MacCraith and Regina Moran, CEO of Fujitsu Ireland
(l to r) Dr. Andreas Willerts, Prof. Tony Killard and Antti Kemppainen

2. 2The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University
SUMMER 2013THE EYE ON BDI
EU WORKSHOPS SITE VISIT
The BDI hosted a number of EU workshops during the Summer.
PROSENSE
PROSENSE is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network aiming to train
young scientists in the interdiciplinary field of diagnostics for prostate
cancer. In early July, Prof Richard O’Kennedy and his team was the
first of the 15 European partners to host a training workshop for
fellows and partners. The workshop consisted of a lecture series
where 7 experts presented in the field of antibody research. The
second day included laboratory workshops where the 50 delegates
participated in ‘hands-on’ practical sessions in cell culture techniques
and antibody expression and purification. Delegates also viewed
demos of cutting-edge microfluidic platforms such as Biacore and
centrifugal discs used for rapid biological analysis. A conference
dinner was hosted in The 1838 Club and traditional entertainment
provided by an Irish dancing troupe was the highlight of the night.
LiPhos
Prof Jens Ducrée, BDI/DCU hosted the 3rd quarterly executive
committee meeting for the LiPhos project in early July. Attendees
from across the project consortium included members from Agencia
Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Centro
Nacional de Microelectrónica (CSIC-CNM) - Spain, Rijksuniversiteit
Groningen (RUG) - Netherlands, Aarhus Universitet (AU) - Denmark,
Fundacion Centro Nacional De Investigaciones Cardiovasculares
Carlos III (CNIC) - Spain, iXscient Ltd - UK and Lionix BV -
Netherlands. The LiPhos project will develop biophotonic diagnosis
tools (BDTs) in which cells are, for the very first time, used for defining
the core of the waveguide, giving rise to the “Living Photonics"
concept. Measurement protocols will consist of the determination of
the Photonic Fingerprint (PIN) of the biological system under study
and will be applied to the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Well done to all BDI staff and researchers on the fantastic display of
our research, facilities and outputs at the recent SFI site review.
Positive feedback has been received from the panel and SFI and will
be disseminated by BDI PIs. We will host a "thank-you reception" on
the 30th of August; further information to follow.
ANALYST COVER
Research undertaken by Dr. Leanne Harris and Professor Tony Killard
on the development of a miniaturised microfluidic platform for Factor
Xa (FXa) monitoring has been published as a cover article in the
Analyst journal. The manuscript, entitled ‘A microfluidic anti-Factor
Xa assay device for point of care monitoring of anticoagulation
therapy’ describes the development of a miniaturised, disposable
microfluidic platform incorporating a fluorogenic anti-FXa assay. The
ability of the prototype to effectively measure anticoagulant drugs in
plasma, demonstrates its ability to be utilised in a point of care setting
for monitoring antithrombotic therapy.
AN EYE ON DR. CHARLES NWANKIRE
Dr. Charles Nwankire is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the BDI.
Tell us about your background and how long you have been involved with BDI.
I have a multidisciplinary and multicultural background. Originally from Nigeria, I travelled to St. Petersburg, Russia in 2000 to study
Mechanical Engineering under a joint international government scholarship. There, I wrote and defended my BSc and MSc theses in Russian
and also worked for about 2 years as a Mechanical Design Engineer. I later travelled to Helsinki, Finland where I worked for about 6 months
before moving to Ireland in 2007 for PhD studies. My PhD research was carried out at the Surface Engineering Group in UCD under the
supervision of Dr. Denis Dowling. In the project, we developed a novel superhydrophobic plasma-deposited nano coating for mitigation of
biofouling. The coating was successfully tested on a commercial platform in Sweden. Quite recently, I successfully completed an online
certificate course offered by the School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge USA. I joined the BDI in August 2010.
Prof Richard O’Kennedy with PROSENSE fellows at the workshop

3. 3The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University
Dr. Charles Nwankire is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the BDI.
Which group are you part of and what are you currently working on?
I am part of the microfluidics group under the leadership of Prof. Jens Ducrée where we
develop a range of microfluidics platforms (mainly centrifugal) used in various BDI projects.
Currently, I’m working on the ONC1 project where we are developing a microfluidic platform
for the physical isolation of cancer cells. In our group, I work directly with Dr. Macdara Glynn
and Daniel Kirby. I also work with Dr. Anita Venkatanarayanan on the development of another
centrifugal microfluidic platform for electrochemical detection of cancer cells. We recently
completed work with CLARITY on the development of an automated centrifugal microfluidic
platform and a portable analyser using LEDs for multi-parameter monitoring of liver function
with colorimetric assays.
What excites you about the field of diagnostics research?
I recently returned from Nigeria on a ‘work-holiday’ trip where I was able to bring our portable
centrifugal analyser for preliminary field trials. I took the device to a centralized government
laboratory in a University Hospital in south-eastern Nigeria, where they regularly monitor the
liver function of patients on HIV medication. I brought a number of our disk platforms, used
the lab’s assay reagents and blood donated by a lab attendant in order to run the liver
function tests on the portable analyser. I was amazed at how the results obtained from the
device correlated with those from the standard benchtop system. The device was powered by
9V batteries and made with 3D printed parts by researchers in Jens‘ group. The accuracy,
portability and its compatibility to typical clinical settings in Nigeria was absolutely
mind-blowing for me. Speaking later with the hospital’s Chief Medical Pathologist, he said, “If
this device would be commercially available, I would make a lot of money in my private clinic
with it because patients are able to see their tests live and results within a few mins”.
What excites you about the field of diagnostics research?
My main trigger in the field of diagnostics research is the rapid technological explosion
experienced by the electronics and telecommunications industry over the past decade. I
somehow believe that intensive and focused research in the field of diagnostics research
would eventually move it from the research lab closer to the people that really need them,
especially in low resource economies. So I’m excited to be part it.
What keeps you busy outside of work?
Very interesting question….Outside work, family life tops the agenda. I and my wife,
Nwabueze have 2 kids – Prince Ebube (4 years) and Princess Chigogo (2 years); they are very
smart and fun kids, so they keep us quite busy. I also enjoy going to church on Sundays to
worship God.
AN EYE ON DR. CHARLES NWANKIRE
SUMMER 2013THE EYE ON BDI
FUNDING ALERTS
• FP7 Marie Curie Fellowships - August 14th
• Royal Society University Research
Fellowship - 17th September
• FP7 Marie Curie Career Integration Grants -
18th Spetember
• SFI Starting Investigator Research Grant
(SIRG) Programme - Q3 2013
• IRC Employment Based Postgraduate
Programme - Q3 2013
• IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme
(Postgrad/doc) - Q3 2013
• SFI US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme
- Rolling Call
• SFI-HRB-Wellcome Trust Biomedical
Research Partnership
- Senior Research Fellowships in Basic
Biomedical Science 20 Sept 2013 / 13 Dec
2013
- Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral
Fellowships 27 Sept 2013
- Wellcome Trust Career Re-entry Fellowships
27 Sept 2013
- Research Career Development Fellowships
in Basic Biomedical Science 01 Nov 2013
- Principal Research Fellowships – Rolling Call
Email claire.mckenna@dcu.ie for any queries
NOTICES
FOR JULY
Welcome to Kali Dunne
who is covering for
Denise Carthy on her
maternity leave. Kali
will be working on the
Mobimate & rephorm
projects.
Welcome also to
summer interns David
Boyle and Darren
McAuley who join the
microfluidics group.
Good luck with your
projects.
Welcome to Aoife
Crawley and Daniel
McPartlin who both
join Richard O’Kennedy’s
group as summer
interns.
Charles with his son Prince Ebube